 infobox country native_name march of bissel common_name bissel image_coat coat_bissel gif image_map map_bissel_s png capital thornward major_cities pellak provinces twenty-six knight baronies nine townships one capital township thornward resources foodstuffs cloth gold gems gems i languages common keoish ferrond baklava dwarven government_type feudal monarchy leader_title margrave leader_name walgar citizen bisselite population 115 200 demographics human human osb dwarf dwarf mountain dwarf dwarf hill elf elf sylvan halfling halfling stout gnome half-elf other demographic_numbers 94 500 6 600 5 000 2 300 2 300 2 300 1 200 1 200 religions heironeous zilchus fharlanghn geshtai rao istus alignment lg ln n ng platinum griffon gold lion electrum silver stag copper roc allies gran march keoland veluna knights of the watch dwarves of the eastern barrier peaks enemies ket iuz footnotes culture the inhabitants of bissel tend to be somewhat untrusting of outsiders on the whole they oft keep to themselves disliking foreigners; a trait well-understandable given the history of invasion from without however this same trait causes them to have considerable trust for one-another even for those who make their residence on opposite sides of the nation entirely geography bissel is at the northernmost reach of the sheldomar valley on a broad plain bounded in the west and northwest by the barrier peaks in the northeast by the fals river and in the east by the lorridges the weather is overall fairly temperate if dry with the far west getting the majority of the rain it has few weather problems with the only major exception being flash floods along the realstream in the west a constant stream of caravans messengers and patrols moves along the country country's two major highways watchtower road running from thornward to hookhill near the lorridges and fals road from thornward east to mitrik along the fals river military bissel bissel's standing army consists of the renown border companies four regular companies and four reserve companies that serve the margrave directly adventurers and mercenaries from across the flanaess can be found in its ranks and its reputation of success in repelling the raids from ket over the last near-century has spread far each company numbers 1 000 strong containing contingents of horsemen footmen and archers plus a special squad of scouts numbering between 30 and 50 when assigned to border duty history as far back as the original migrations the march of bissel has been seen as the gateway between the baklunish west the sheldomar valley and the rest of the flanaess with this position it has been repeatedly invaded by a variety of oeridian suloise and baklunish people with history stretching back to even before the baklunish-suloise wars it has long held a position of great importance eventually one of the various invasion attempts was successful with the founding of thornward by the knights of the watch under order from keoland in 289 cy to be used as a base from which to defend the nation and strike against foes as well as an opportunity to tax the trade roads between the baklunish and furyondy from here keoland launched a series of invasions against ket and veluna through the mid-300s after a series of defeats against ket however keoland pulled back bissel was declared the littlemark and the country country's northernmost-frontier as recently as 438 cy bissel continued to hold this status with thornward growing in its position as a major trade center between the baklunish west and oeridian suloise east as well as from trade between keoland and furyondy through the fals river pass in that year the country was wrested from keoland by the forces of furyondy in the small war it was a tributary state of that nation for almost 40 years but when a horde of humanoids swept through furyondy rollo margrave rollo managed to earn the country country's independence rollo and a group of his men in 477 cy saved hugh iii king hugh iii from a horde of goblins laying in wait planning an ambush of the monarch monarch's train their acts were seen as so heroic that the king granted rollo palatinate status allowing bissel the right of self-rule around the same time ket underwent a change of government bringing to power a conservative-militant faction with strong ties to the military whipping up the populace with tales of keoland 's invasion over 100 years ago they went on the offensive striking against the former keoish lands of bissel they besieged the city of thornward in 499 cy continuing for a full year and have continued to make raids into the country ever since bissel has managed to withstand these attacks however retaining its independence with the support of furyondy veluna and even keoland 